Flower Framed Church Santorini Greece

Greek Orthodox church dome and bougainvillea with the Santorini caldera.... more

by Carole-Anne Fooks

Title

Flower Framed Church Santorini Greece

Artist

Carole-Anne Fooks

Medium

Photograph

Description

Greek Orthodox church dome and bougainvillea with the Santorini caldera.
Oia village, Santorini, Greek Islands, Aegean Sea. Santorini is in The Cyclades Islands.
The Cyclades (/ˈsɪklədiːz/; Greek: Κυκλάδες, [cikˈla�es]) is a Greek island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The name refers to the islands around (κυκλάς), the sacred island of Delos. The Cyclades is where the native Greek breed of cat (the Aegean cat) originated.
The Cyclades comprise about 220 islands, the major ones being Amorg�s, An�fē, �ndros, Ant�paros, Dēlos, Esch�tē, �os, K�a, K�mōlos, K�thnos, Mēlos, M�konos, N�xos, P�ros, Fol�gandros, S�rifos, S�fnos, S�kinos, S�ros, Tēnos, and Thēra or Santor�ni. Most of the smaller islands are uninhabited.
Ermoupolis, on Syros, is the chief town and administrative center of the former prefecture.
The islands are peaks of a submerged mountainous terrain, with the exception of two volcanic islands, Milos and Santorini (Thera). The climate is generally dry and mild, but with the exception of Naxos the soil is not very fertile; agricultural produce includes wine, fruit, wheat, olive oil, and tobacco. Cooler temperatures are in higher elevations and mainly do not receive wintry weather.
The Cyclades are bounded to the south by the Sea of Crete.
The first archaeological excavations of the 1880s were followed by systematic work by the British School at Athens and by Christos Tsountas, who investigated burial sites on several islands in 1898�1899 and coined the term "Cycladic civilization". Interest lagged, then picked up in the mid-20th century, as collectors competed for the modern-looking figures that seemed so similar to sculpture by Jean Arp or Constantin Br�ncuși. Sites were looted and a brisk trade in forgeries arose. The context for many of these Cycladic figurines have been mostly destroyed and their meaning may never be completely understood. Another intriguing and mysterious object is that of the Cycladic frying pans. More accurate archaeology has revealed the broad outlines of a farming and seafaring culture that had immigrated from Asia Minor c. 5000 BCE. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between c. 3300�2000 BCE, when it was increasingly swamped in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. The culture of mainland Greece contemporary with Cycladic culture is called Helladic culuture.
Photo by Carole-Anne Fooks.

Uploaded

June 11th, 2012